App of the Week: Invisibility 3D

Augmented reality remains one of the less-explored frontiers in mobile computing. Apps like Layar, HistoryPin, and WhatWasThere have combined geolocation capabilities with external databases to link data to places, but the enriched experiences they provide are sometimes too cumbersome to become second-nature.

At this spring's SXSW Interactive, Levity Novelty introduced Invisibility 3D, a gaming app that uses a mindbending overlay of real and virtual worlds to great effect. The game itself is rather simple, using your device as a sort of paddle to sink a projected ball in a projected hole. But the object and its target are overlaid on whatever surface you designate, and the device's camera makes the rest of your environment remains visible just behind the game field.
The resulting manipulation is so successful it can trigger a synesthetic response in the player. Levity's promotional video demonstrates the experience:

While apps making use of the combinations of gyroscope, geographic information systems, and camera are still in their infancy, Invisibility 3D will introduce teens to an experience that is neither altogether virtual nor realistic, and offer a possible direction for an immersive mobile computing experiences building upon your concrete surroundings.